It is time to go public with a 25-year-old secret.
Oriole Park at Camden Yards. April 6th, 1992. The opener.
We had been broadcasting live since 4:30 a.m. WMAR was an NBC station back then, so we had Willard Scott and Joe Garagiola from the Today Show on with us.
Then Brooks and Frank came by. They raved about Baltimore’s newest gift.
I was going live from the first base side. My great friend, Horace Holmes was live on the 3rd base side.
I said, “After President Bush throws out the first pitch, I’ll join you and we will go up to the press box and watch the game.”
The red ropes came out. We were all frozen as President Bush walked on with his then 15-year-old grandson. The lefty fired a shot across the plate, the crowd went wild. The ropes came down and we were free to move.
I didn’t see Horace. So I walked off the field into the lower bowl and slowly made my way around the 3rd base side. Still no sign of Horace.
I walked down the aisle toward the Cleveland Indian dugout and there inside was Horace.
I said, “Hey you can’t…..”
He quickly waved me inside. We stood at the far end of the dugout with our TV ear pieces still dangling.
Maybe they thought we were secret service.
As we stood amazed, Rick Sutcliffe fired strike one.
Are you kidding me, we are watching the first game ever at Oriole Park from the visitors’ dugout!!!!
In the 6th inning, Rick got a big strikeout and we both clapped. I remember Albert Belle looking down the bench and giving us his famous cold stare.
Two hours and two minutes later, Sutcliff got the final out and the Orioles won 2-0.
We walked to the top of the dugout and looked at one another saying, “Nobody will ever believe this.”
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